Why What You’re Thinking About Who The Killer Is On ‘True Detective’ Is Probably Wrong

The debut of HBO’s new series, True Detective starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, was a huge success on Sunday, putting up the biggest numbers for a premiere on the network since Boardwalk Empire, despite competition with the Golden Globes. But more than just the Nielsen numbers, True Detective is quickly catching on with the Internet, and it’s clearly going to be one of my favorite kinds of series: The kind that inspires theories and predictions, the kind that drops clues, the kind that uses symbolism and literary devices, and the kind of series that can not only be watched and enjoyed, but that can be examined. (SPOILERS AHEAD)

But what you’re thinking about the identity of the serial killer is probably wrong.

The moment above at the end of the pilot episode triggered the same thought in a million people on Sunday night: Rust Cohle is the serial killer. I know, because that’s the inkling I had, it’s exactly what my wife suggested after she saw the scene, and that very theory is floating all around the Internets. And that’s exactly how creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto designed it. He wants us to think that, probably as a kind of misdirection: If we make that assumption, then we start to bend the narrative to support that assumption, and while we’re looking in one hand, Pizzolatto will be doing all the magic with his other hand.

That said, the stuff that folks have come up with to support that assumption has been fun. Mostly, the speculation that Cohle is the killer has centered around three trains of evidence:

1) That, as smart as Cohle may be, no one could be as lucky about his guesses as Cohle has been, unless he had some inside knowledge. He instantly knew the victim was a prostitute; he knew the antlers were a type of crown (and he wanted to assure his fellow detective that this was true so that the killer’s motivations were not misunderstood), and he knew exactly where to find that devil net, without looking anywhere else. He walked straight to it, as though he knew it was there all along.

2) Some of the lines in Cohle’s philosophizing point to him as the killer. “We are creatures that should not exist,” he says. “The honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing.” He’s a humanity hating nihilist, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the killer.

3) Then there is this line, “I don’t sleep, I dream.” That has led to speculation that Rust Cohle is not only the killer, but that he doesn’t even know it. He’s schizophrenic, or has multiple personality disorder, and his “dreams” are not actually dreams, but a reality where he goes around killing prostitutes and sticking antlers on their heads.

It’s a fun line of thinking, but again: It’s exactly what Pizzolatto wants us to think. There are a couple of instances in the episode itself when Harrelson’s character even accuses Cohle of “bending the narrative” to support Cohle’s own theory, and I think that’s what Pizzolatto is doing to us: It’s smart. But it can’t be Cohle, because Pizzolatto has to know that’s what everyone is thinking now, and it would be too obvious. I’ve seen the movie Identity, and the multiple personality disorder ending to that serial killer was a horrible cheat, and there’s no way that McConaughey and Harrelson (or HBO itself) would sign on to a series with an obvious ending that everyone figured out by the end of the first episodes. That would be like the disastrous sixth season of Dexter all over again, where the Internet figured out the reveal episodes before it happened.

… unless, of course, as the series progresses, it doesn’t become about the identity of the killer at all, but his motives and Martin Hart’s realization that Cohle is the killer over the course of his interview with the two detectives. I’ve argued that what makes the series so great and different from other crime dramas is that the identity of the killer is secondary to the character development, and that it’s getting inside the minds of Cohle and Hart that make this series so spectacular. It is possible, then, that Pizzolatto is leading us to an obvious conclusion because the identity of the killer is irrelevant to what the series is trying to accomplish, which is to get inside the minds of Cohle and Hart and explore them. Maybe in the fourth episode, Pizzolatto actually reveals Cohle as the serial killer, and we spend the second half of the season exploring what it is that drove him to kill prostitutes, and wondering how long it will take for Hart to figure that out and curse himself for not realizing it much earlier …

… but I don’t think so. Because when Cohle says, “You’re asking the wrong f*cking questions,” the most obvious conclusion anyone would draw is that the right questions are about how he pulled off murders. That’s a seed that Pizzolatto wanted to plant, not to lead you to the killer, but to throw you off the scent.

He feels like a bit of Goren from L&O, the detective that should be working for the FBI Major Killer Task Force or something like that. He’s weird, his brain is wired differently & he’s terrible at parties, but he’s still a good, yet tortured soul.

It’s interesting in what Pizzolatto & Fukunaga say in the “Inside the Episode”… “Cohle runs on a more hyperactive brain, which to people not so inclined towards those types of perceptions, tend to be unsettling.” They mentioned that whereas in their approach to solving the case, Hart tends to stick to “the book” and believes by following the steps, he’ll have the answer, whereas Cohle is based more on instinct and the psychological behavoir of the killer. Interesting comments.

That sounds spot on. I think the partners have only been together for a short while, maybe a couple of months. I suspect this is their first big case together & it doesn’t look like anybody’s seen a case like this ever. So I can see how Hart wouldn’t know what to think about Cohle’s thoughts & instincts. If they stuck together for a while, I think that Hart would eventually learn how to trust his off-beat partner’s intuitions.

I read this post only to get to the first dumb thing Rowles wrote. 1st paragraph, “He instantly knew the victim was a prostitute”

Yes, because serial killers NEVER target hookers, and experienced homicide detectives would NEVER suspect that a dead woman in the middle to a field who had no idea and with no recent reports of disappearances in the area MIGHT have been a transient sex worker.

And with that, I’m out. Hopefully someone besides Rowles and is obvious trolling gets to do these recaps; the show has too much promise for him to piss all over the next day’s conversation.

He already made one major assumption with that “Cohle went right for that Devil’s trap” comment. The backyard had a chicken coop, a fenced in yard for said chickens, and a bunch of playground equipment. OF COURSE he would go look in the goddamn coop, it’s the only other enclosed space in the yard. But no, anyone acting like a normal person is instantly suspicious, and must be working with Chibs and the Irish in a plot to bring the Governor back to power… but wait. Cohle’s daughter is dead. The Gov’s daughter is dead. COHLE IS THE NEW GOVERNOR!!!

I almost think the idea isn’t that he’s the killer but that he knows that they’re investigating him and that kind of annoys him so he’s sort of toying with them.

Of course, it hasn’t really been revealed that he’s being investigated yet but it seems pretty obvious. The only other thing I could think is that they’re investigating someone high up and Cohle knows that so he’s trying to lead them there.

I think the “right fucking questions” line was meant to make the detectives realize there was a lot of political pressure brought to bear in 95, and they are ignoring it for the easy answer, again. They need to start looking at the details, and not just the big beats of the case like they’re doing now.

The biggest tipoff for me that Rust isn’t the killer is his lighter. First scene in the show is the body being carried to the tree and then you hear the flick of a lighter before the shot of the field on fire.

After that, the show goes out of its way to have Rust light cigarette after cigarette and the lighter sound effect is pronounced each time regardless of where he is (ambient noise and all). Hell, the first time you see him use it in present day, he extends it out as a challenge to the two cops interviewing him before lighting up. The figure that sets fire to the field’s lighter sounds significantly different.

Going to try to not think too hard about the fact that I’m one episode in and I’m already dissecting sound effect differences on the internet.

The entire episode I felt like they tried to make me feel like Cohle was the killer, or rather that the detectives interviewing him thought he was the killer. But because of that, I naturally didn’t want to believe it. It could possible turn out to be the greatest mind fuck I’ve experienced on TV since the Red Wedding.

Holy Crap it’s the whole Keiser Szoze thing, that crippled dude is gonna stand up and walk out cause him and his sister are nut jobs, and the sis blames his crippled ness and sickness on his dealings with drugs n hoes, cause secretly she loves him!!!! Thank you HBO, you can send me my Oscar and checks to me directly.

I’m probably very wrong, but there was a very suspicious older cop that appeared prominently in two scenes. He didn’t have any lines, but his emotions were clearly there. I think there is something up with that guy. You see him come into the chiefs office and shut the door and standing with the detectives during the press conference. Had a hiding in plain site vibe to it.

Definitely something with that older cop. The shot of him walking into the chiefs office lingered a little to long and made me uncomfortable for some reason I can’t put my finger on. I was thinking that he is working on some parallel case that will be revealed later in the series

I believe you are referring to the Chief of Police correct? At least that is what I think his title is, given he is wearing the uniform and has the stripes that would accompany such a rank. He bumped into Woody’s character and that prompted him to turn to MM and say “fuck that guy.” It might be a stretch, and it would be interesting to see if he is still alive in the present day when Hart and Cohle are being interviewed.

Remember, the present day detectives pointed out that the most recent killing had all the similarities as the one(s) back in ’95. The one detective even pointed out that many of those details were never revealed to the general public which definitely points to someone familiar with the investigations.

Possibly, I’m not great on ranks. Looked on IMDB and couldn’t figure it out, but he is the one in the Blue uniform that goes into the Major’s office (previously thought it was the chief’s office). Also wears the blue uni at the press conference. RedKettle described it well, once he enters the office they make a point to stay with the shot for an extra beat, seems unnecessary if there is no point in his character.

I would like to hope that very few people would entertain the thought of him as the killer for more than a few misguided seconds.

By: Iron Mike Sharpie

01.16.2014 @ 12:19 PM

I think your assumptions in 1) are all messed up. I think the first episode worked very hard to make it clear that Cohle is consumed by his work. His apartment had a mattress, a cross on the wall and a shit ton of books on criminal theory and that’s all. He doesn’t have a life outside his work, and the shitty stuff he has seen (that any cop, particularly a detective, would see) has torn his soul to shreds. The world fucking sucks. People fucking suck. And Cohle not only knows this, but has accepted it where other people might agree with the general sentiment but try to proceed with their lives like things are okay. While I don’t think the show is trying to convince people that Cohle is the original serial killer, I do think they want you to think that he might be responsible for the new (bridge) murder. The first crime, and Cohle’s knowledge of it can be legitimately written off to his dedication to the detective craft. He has the ability to deduce that the victim was a prostitute based on evidence present AND combined with his extensive knowledge of how crime theory (due to his voracious intake of information about such). Other people, like Hart (for example) are distracted by things like family dinner and cheating on their wives, but Cohle has an absurd focus because all he thinks about it is his work. So him walking out back at the little girl’s house and making a beeline for the place where the devil net was is, in my mind, easily connected to his natural curiosity and attention to details.

I don’t know, my first instinct was that this all ends in some shady cover up that Cohle couldn’t deal with. Like the suspect is the right guy, but their investigation uncovers some super dark shit too, Hart decides to cover it up, Cohle can’t handle that, tips over into full loss of faith in humanity, starts drinking hard. Hart’s already been characterized as being comfortable with lies (his very obvious affair) and willing to ignore/cover up issues for the sake of maintaining order (Cohle’s odd way of thinking and his position on religion) and between that and the shady Christian Mayor guy who popped by (that’s what he was, right? I was too distracted by THE SLAP) there’s already a heavy feel of a Christian cover up narrative.

The ’12 cops interest in Cohle’s behavior felt less “oh he acted crazy, he’s the killer” and more “oh he was drunk/erratic, he must have fucked up”. He wants them to ask the “right fucking questions” because they might manage to expose this shit when he couldn’t.

That was it! As much as I loved that first episode, I found myself having to concentrate far more just to pick up all the details than I usually do. Maybe it’s because I’ve become too used to Johnny Lee Miller shouting facts at the screen in my crime shows, but still.

Yup caught that and either Him or somebody in the family as the killer maybe a son . cause he caught daddy banging whores and Daddy blamed the drugs for his mis-deeds so now Son due to years of sexual and physical abuse by daddy is all screwed up trying to find a link between god and sex……….wheres my damn royalty checks HBO!!!

This was my general opinion on it; some problem with the investigation, arresting the wrong guy or committing some error. Cohle’s sarcastic question, “…how indeed?” led me to believe he was pissed because something went wrong and they didn’t get the right guy.

I love that after one episode the show has people dissecting everything and yet, we’ve seen only a fraction of whats to come. That being said, I agree that the Cohle clues are a bit of a misdirect. What i took away from the fact that 2012 Cohle is a disheveled mess whose accepted his alcoholism, is that he feels immense guilt for something outside of the guilt that he already feels for his lost daughter. At the end when he says “start asking the right fucking questions”, I don’t think that he’s taunting the new detectives, but rather leading them to the conclusion that he made years before, that the wrong man died or went down for the crimes and in the race to close the case, guilty men walked free. It was clear when Cohle had that encounter with the Mayor’s brother or whoever that asshole was in the precinct, that he’s going to be having issues being heard down the line. If I had to guess, Hart’s pussy addiction will get in the way and his lack of focus will put further strain on Cohle and thus bring out those demons he’s carrying with him, which could result in him being removed from the case, or left in disgrace. The writing is too smart to just hand us Cohle on a platter this early, and it certainly feels like the kind of show that’s looking to take advantage of the time to develop character, so we’ve got to find out why Cohle is left as a shell of himself, and that reason has to be that he failed at the one thing that was holding him together – being a good cop. I would guess that someone in that precinct or in that mayor’s office will emerge as a potential foil and that Cohle’s case will go to shit because of outside forces, and he will be left in disgrace and maybe even fear that the killer walked and no one listened to him. Meanwhile, Hart, maybe knowing the same thing – left to pursue a private sector gig because he couldn’t handle the truth that he turned his back on a good man, and let a killer walk so that he could close a case and be a hero.
Then again, i’m on a handful of drugs and i’m pretty sure that the killer is Milhouse’s alter ego, Killhouse – and i’m just excited to see an animated character interact with Wooderson from Dazed and Confused and that dude from Cheers.

Only problem is that they were partners for 7 years after 95 still doing cop shit. Would seem like if the case wrapped in 95, your theory would have materialized then and not in 2002 when they stopped talking to each other.

Guessing a case happens in 2002 that brings the 95 case back. A solid falling out would be Cohle wanting the case reopened, and Hart saying no fucking way. My money is on Hart being a bit creative with some evidence to put the patsy away, and Cohle finding out about it after the fact when a new murder happens.

I never thought for a minute that he was the killer. The last scene screamed out to me that a huge coverup / mislead happened in 95 to close the case and that he is super pissed about it. it almost certainly has to do with the political parties that have been introduced wanting this wrapped up neatly and quickly.

I thought it was obvious that they were going to think he was the killer, but really, he’s the misunderstood genius detective with crippling personality quirks. I loved the show hard, but the procedural part of it felt really cliched. I’m waiting for Hannibal to show up though.

It was FBI agent Wesley Doyle, who had a demon in him. Seriously, lots of good theories here. I too, think Cohle is too obvious and I’ve been thinking for a couple of days that it was possible that Hart might be a suspect. However, I just can’t see the two of them working together for 7 years afterwards and Cohle not figuring it out. This looks to be an outstanding show and I’m glad that there should be a definite conclusion, at least I hope so.

Isn’t it possible that Cohle DID figure it out, though? And it was HART?

Look at the setup: Hart seems to be doing well for himself, he’s out of the game but still a PI or whatever, but doesn’t seem to rattled about the case. Unlike Cohle, who is still a wreck after all this time. The detectives are asking Hart all about Cohle, but they’re NOT asking Cohle about Hart. Hmmm. Then Cohle tells them to start asking the right questions.

Questions about the lead officer on the case, mayhap?

And they made a point to tell us that Hart is lead on the case, which would presumably give him power to override/cover up anything his genius partner has discovered. Also, Hart is a gregarious everyman who gets along with everybody, whereas Cohle is the discomfiting oddball – making it that much easier for Hart to discredit Cohle’s case against him.

But I don’t know if the time line works for that. The initial case happened in 1995. They worked together after until 2002. They’re being interviewed/interrogated roughly present day.

So isn’t it possible that Cohle (who as far as I know may still be a detective, he said in the interview it was his day off) found out much later that it was Hart, after Hart had worked things so that it looked like the killer was found?

Cohle did hint that they had “found him” (but not really of course) “back in 95”.

So in 95, Hart arranges things somehow so that somebody else gets pinned for the murder(s). In 2002, Cohle learns the truth, Hart manipulates matters to silence him, they can no longer be partners. But Cohle has not totally given up, staying on the force (maybe).

Now Hart is back at it again, and suspicions point to Cohle because he’s a weird grumpy alcoholic.

I think him guessing about the prostitute is more of an observation that him guessing. A lot of serial killers use prostitutes because the business they deal with is dangerous and unstable. They are drifters and the appear and disappear all the time, like it was stated on the show. I don’t think it’s enough evidence to support that Cohle is the killer. The crown thing, it could be something that he’s read about before. It was established in episode that he’s a reader, and it looked like he had psychology and crime books, it’s all possible that he could have read it somewhere and applied it here. Though the devil net thing is without explanation as of now. Unless the killer put that there to claim that he’s killed before, and he killed this girl that went missing but he didn’t display her because he was just practicing on her. I’m just guessing on that last part.

I think Cohle is daring the interviewers to accuse him of being the killer. Like “You want to accuse me, then accuse me, but stop pussyfooting around it” He didn’t do it, but he’s not going to defend himself until attacked and he wants to get it out of the way.

Maybe I was a little distracted by Harrelson’s character’s vocal tic but I was happy to let the show just wash over me rather than feel compelled to get involved in any amateur sleuthing. The subplot of the missing girl seemed relevant though, unless that too is a deliberate ploy by the writers to further obfuscate things.

That was a great final line though. I’m intrigued and after reading the comments here may rewatch and pay more attention this time. Oh and the thought that either of the two detectives is the killer though never ocurred to me once. Not feeling that at all.

His daughter died and he has a lot of rage issues. Maybe his daughter was killed the same way and he already had done some research (he did mention it wouldn’t only be in one area). I think that the department said they found the killer even though Cohle knew they hadn’t for sure. And that they don’t talk because Cohle sleeps with the wife even though everyone assumes it’s work related.

I don’t think Cohle is the killer, i agree that it would be too obvious. However there is a lot we don’t know about Hart. I am the only one that thinks that he’s having an affair (not that it would have anything to do with the murder): he hasn’t been home for a few nights eventhough he just started the case and the way he jumped when the girl with the “deposition” came to the police station…I guess will have to wait and see.

IMO, neither one (Cohle/Hart) is the killer. Now there maybe something down the road that is so terrible that a cover-up is inevitable (i.e., someone on the force committing the crime and Cohle/Hart are left to walkaway after doing a “case closed” stance, or maybe it’s someone with ties to Hart that causes a riff in their investigation and the two go separate ways).

I honestly believe neither has seen anything like this and both men are pretty dedicated to their job of finding out who’s doing the killing (just in a different way).

It’s way to early to say who, other than these two, is the real killer.

Unless there’s so much tension between the two, the guy Cohle eventually captures is someone that Hart knows. Out of spite or resentment, Hart commits the 2012 crimes to either blackball Cohle or to bring Cohle’s “case close” into question.

It felt like too obvious an idea. The writers were definitely leading the audience that way. I wrote it off as “first episode deception” aimed at dragging people in as an end-of-episode nagging thought.

I just looked at the cast, writers and producers and said, “They’ll do better than that.”

My theory is that Harrelson’s character uses McConaughey’s character’s insights to find the actual killer in the 90’s and sends him to jail. Then Harrelson kills his wife for banging McConaughey in the same fashion as the serial killer and aims to frame his former partner for the crime in present day.

During my 2nd viewing a very brief scene stood out to me. Cohle and Hart are in the car and there’s a shot of a little girl waving to them as they pass by. Immediately after this Cohle asks Hart if he believes in ghosts. This seems like one of those shows where they don’t waste a single scene to tell the story so I am thinking it serves some purpose.

I don’t think they would have shown Cohle the photos of the most recent murder if he was a suspect. I doubt they’d get him beer either. They used the cheeseburger and coke reference when referring to suspects, but that is a “good guy” tactic. It was more like they needed Cohle. I doubt Hart is the killer either, though he is more cool and collected; a trait more linked to a serial killer. Cohle seems too crazy to be committing such planned out crimes. Maybe back in ’95, but the recent killings… I don’t see his crazy ass putting all that together. I do feel like maybe Cohle got in between Hart and his wife at some point.

When Cohle says at the end “Then start ask the right fucking questions”. The previous question was “How could it be him if they already caught him in ’95?” That means that is the wrong question to be asking. Maybe Cohle didn’t believe they caught the right guy back then. Maybe that drove him crazy and he “was off the grid for 8 years” doing his own search for the killer because he was ordered off the case once it was “solved”, almost similar to Hank in Breaking Bad.

I think the killer is the baseball player with an MS-like disease, Danny Fontenot. He’s faking it. At least that WAS my thought until I looked at the IMDB profile and saw he was in only two episodes. I have no idea what’s going on…

I’m with you on the Fontenot theory. I think there was a reason we met the family. And how coincidental was it that one of those doll things just happened to be in the shed, and no one noticed after the girl’s been dead for so long? Not to mention, since the MS man supposedly couldn’t stand up, no one could tell his height, so he certainly could be a “tall man”, which wouldn’t be surprising, being he was a professional athlete. I think he’s faking it too.